What should I test? Fish dying off

[Jake]

Hello, 

 I thank everyone for taking the time to read this and help me out. I have a 20 gal reg. tank set up with some plants (java moss carpet, Madagascar lace, scarlet temple). The tank has a large hang on back filter, with a sponge and filter water polisher pad, a sponge on the intake as well. The tank has been set up for over 5 years, the current fish were 10 neon tetras, 5 amano shrimp, 1 kuhli loach, ( there were more a few years ago, he was the last of them) 2 German blue rams (male and female) 2 cory's (again a hold over from past years.  I recently stocked this with rams and tetras 3 weeks ago. The pet store I had bought from is one of the best in my area and has always sold quality fish. Three days ago I noticed 2 of the tetras almost looked bloated and swimming a bit off, almost swimming with there nose higher than there tail, the next day they had died, every day more of these tetras have died. I am currently down to 3 now. My rams had been doing great, they had corner they had claimed as home, my female spawned about 2 weeks ago, the shrimp ate her eggs, and now 2 days ago she spawned again, both parents had now been guarding the nest, today I found her dead. She never acted irregular or anything. I also found my kuhli loach dead as well. That is what really bothered me, that fish is the oldest in the tank 5 years old. I do small frequent water changes,  my water parameters are as fallows 

Temp 82 degrees 

ammonia 0

nitrite 0

nitrate 5.0 ppm

ph 8.2

gh 150

kh  300? all I have to test kh is a strip and it goes from 180-300 so its somewhere in there, the rest of the tests come from a master test kit.

hydrometer specific gravity 1.002

I don't see any signs of ick or any off behavior from my fish, my rams seemed healthy have plenty of areas to hide. My male continues to guard the eggs. My water is well water, the drinking water is hard, but my faucet water is ran through a softener, which is what I use in the aquarium. That has been what I always have done. I'm afraid there is some weird disease killing off my fish but I'm not sure. What should I do? What is the next thing to test?  

[Keeg]

Your ph seems pretty high for rams, tetras, and the kulfi loach. How much and what do you feed? Did the rams even appear to have a concave belly or the tetras stringy waste? Is the ram a short body variety or normal? 

[Zenzo]

On 9/16/2021 at 7:53 PM, Jake said:

Hello, 

 I thank everyone for taking the time to read this and help me out. I have a 20 gal reg. tank set up with some plants (java moss carpet, Madagascar lace, scarlet temple). The tank has a large hang on back filter, with a sponge and filter water polisher pad, a sponge on the intake as well. The tank has been set up for over 5 years, the current fish were 10 neon tetras, 5 amano shrimp, 1 kuhli loach, ( there were more a few years ago, he was the last of them) 2 German blue rams (male and female) 2 cory's (again a hold over from past years.  I recently stocked this with rams and tetras 3 weeks ago. The pet store I had bought from is one of the best in my area and has always sold quality fish. Three days ago I noticed 2 of the tetras almost looked bloated and swimming a bit off, almost swimming with there nose higher than there tail, the next day they had died, every day more of these tetras have died. I am currently down to 3 now. My rams had been doing great, they had corner they had claimed as home, my female spawned about 2 weeks ago, the shrimp ate her eggs, and now 2 days ago she spawned again, both parents had now been guarding the nest, today I found her dead. She never acted irregular or anything. I also found my kuhli loach dead as well. That is what really bothered me, that fish is the oldest in the tank 5 years old. I do small frequent water changes,  my water parameters are as fallows 

Temp 82 degrees 

ammonia 0

nitrite 0

nitrate 5.0 ppm

ph 8.2

gh 150

kh  300? all I have to test kh is a strip and it goes from 180-300 so its somewhere in there, the rest of the tests come from a master test kit.

hydrometer specific gravity 1.002

I don't see any signs of ick or any off behavior from my fish, my rams seemed healthy have plenty of areas to hide. My male continues to guard the eggs. My water is well water, the drinking water is hard, but my faucet water is ran through a softener, which is what I use in the aquarium. That has been what I always have done. I'm afraid there is some weird disease killing off my fish but I'm not sure. What should I do? What is the next thing to test?  

I am sorry to hear that you lost fish.

Why is your specific gravity at 1.002? Have you added salt to your system, or is this from the well water?

My other question is did you quarantine your new fish when you brought them home? If so, did you use anything to combat parasites and infections (meds, salt, etc.)?

[Jake]

My water is runs through a softener and no I did not quarantine these fish. I do have things on hand for meds but I have not used them.

Normal blue rams, I feed a rotation of frozen brine shrimp, frozen blood worms, Hikari micro pellets and vibra bites. I do try hard to not over feed. They get the frozen food every other day. They are feed once a day.

[Jake]

I wouldn't say a concave belly the first 2 that died almost seemed bloated if anything. I try to lower the ph but it never really moves. I have 2 med size almond leaves in the aquarium as well. Thats what the rams lay there eggs on.

[Keeg]

On 9/16/2021 at 8:17 PM, Jake said:

I wouldn't say a concave belly the first 2 that died almost seemed bloated if anything. I try to lower the ph but it never really moves. I have 2 med size almond leaves in the aquarium as well. Thats what the rams lay there eggs on.

Im going to guess it was some sort of fast acting internal parasite. Though with such a fast acting ailment, it wouldn't hurt doing the whole med trio to be safe. 

[Jake]

Okay! So that just reminded me! The java moss I bought came from eBay, after I added it, I saw a brown worm swimming in the water, it was like a pin worm but brown maybe a 3/8 of a inch long, I scooped it out with my net and tossed it. I do have worm meds I just ran that through now.

I added that moss 2 weeks ago.

[Keeg]

 

On 9/16/2021 at 8:55 PM, Jake said:

Okay! So that just reminded me! The java moss I bought came from eBay, after I added it, I saw a brown worm swimming in the water, it was like a pin worm but brown maybe a 3/8 of a inch long, I scooped it out with my net and tossed it. I do have worm meds I just ran that through now.

I added that moss 2 weeks ago.

like this?

[Jake]

No it only had one tail.

Just a update, this morning when I woke up my male ram is now dead and another Tetra had died. My tank now has 2 tetras and 2 Cory's, and 5 Amano shrimp.